Unusual
by Valeriasg1
Summary: A couple of short ficlets featuring Elizabeth Weir and Vala Mal Doran. Femslash.
1. Late Night Games

Of all the people Elizabeth thought she could find in the mess hall at this time of the night, Vala Mal Doran was probably the

Of all the people Elizabeth thought she could find in the mess hall at this time of the night, Vala Mal Doran was probably the last on her list. Deprived of the usual clusters of scientists and marines, or lonely eaters, the room looked larger than she'd ever believed it to be.

Vala looked like a single letter in the middle of a blank page: black hair, black tank-top, black pants, and incredibly pale skin, she sat cross-legged _on_ a table at the center of the room, a tablet perched on one knee, and a tub of yoghurt in her hand.

She lifted her head at the sound of Elizabeth's footsteps and greeted her with a luminous smile. Elizabeth answered with a nod and a smile of her own as she walked over to the thermos and poured herself the lukewarm remnants of coffee from dinner.

"That's not going to help you sleep, you know." Vala said with that peculiar accent of hers, when Elizabeth came to sit at the same table. She hadn't been at the SGC when Elizabeth still worked there, but she knew snippets of her story from her briefs conversations with Daniel Jackson.

"It'll help me face another working day in a few hours."

Vala thought for a moment, her mouth closing around the spoon. "Fair enough." It was in that moment that Elizabeth noticed that the yoghurt was actually pudding. Their precious chocolate pudding, that came in limited supply once a month and was lovingly stored in a _locked_ refrigerator.

Vala produced another from behind her back and tossed it to Elizabeth, who caught it just before it hit her square in the face. "I don't really like vanilla." She said apologetically, her smile planted firmly in place. A spoon was magically produced from Vala's pocket and clumsily pushed into Elizabeth's hand. "There." She mumbled.

Even as she peeled the lid off the tub and let her nostrils revel in the sweet scent of milk and chocolate, Elizabeth made a mental note of talking to Daniel first thing in the morning.  
"Insomnia?" She asked.

Vala brought another spoonful of pudding to her mouth, then shrugged. "I haven't slept much since Qetesh was removed from my body."

Elizabeth wasn't sure whether she was referring to a physiological reaction caused by the chemical imbalance or nightmares, but she didn't query.

"Burden of command?" Vala asked in return.

Elizabeth took a mouthful of pudding, and nodded. "That pretty much sums it up."

Vala sighed. "This place is beautiful, but there's not much to do at night. _All_ the interesting doors seem to be locked, and I figured it would be impolite if I started tampering with your crystals. And Daniel would be angry."

Never as angry as McKay, Elizabeth thought, if he woke up to find that someone had put their hands in his territory. And an alien woman with no Ph.Ds of all people.

Vala studied her for a few more seconds as she licked her spoon clean and placed the now empty plastic tub on the table. She didn't look very happy with her silence, or that the pudding was over, for that matter.

"Play chess?"

"Chess?" Elizabeth echoed incredulously.

"It's about the only earth game I can play. More or less, because Daniel and Teal'c always beat me." She grimaced. "Maybe you could tell me what I'm doing wrong?"

With an amused smile on her lips, Elizabeth reached out and took the tablet from Vala's bent knee. She brought up the virtual chessboard on the screen and handed the alien woman a stylus.

"I can do better." She said, remembering the long hours spent over Daniel's antique chessboard. "I can teach you how to beat Daniel."


	2. Pandora's box

"It sucks not being in control of your own body, mh

"It sucks not being in control of your own body, mh?" Vala's question is phrased to match her trademark light tone, but Elizabeth knows, even without looking at her face, that her eyes are telling a whole different story. Much like the one her own eyes have been screaming for the past few months.

She hasn't talked about this – not openly, at least – with anyone since she'd been rescued: not with her friends, and not with Vala. But she knows how hard it is for her to spend the night, not to run from any bonds that she feels are growing too tight for her own comfort. All Elizabeth can do in return is offer her the sincerity she deserves, no matter how much the notion of unleashing the memories scares her. Elizabeth thinks of it as a combined effort, and it gives her a bit of strength.

"I wasn't strong enough to fight their influence. After a while, I started thinking like them. The more I used my abilities, the more I became one of them. I knew what was happening – I _felt_ it happen, and I couldn't stop it."

Vala looks intently at her, her head propped upon a slender hand. She uses the other to draw circles on Elizabeth's shoulder with slightly calloused fingertips.

"They assimilated you." She says, tentatively. She's still learning, about the Asurans, and about the Pegasus Galaxy. That even if the Goa'uld; the Ori; her daughter, are gone, there's always another nightmare lying in wait just around the corner. "Set your consciousness aside." She reiterates the concept with words that are more familiar to her.

"Yes." Elizabeth's voice is thinner than she'd like, and her hand trembles as she tucks a thick bang of raven-colored hair behind Vala's ear, her thumb tracing the contours of the shell.

She knows what the next step is, but she's reluctant to take it. The plethora of feelings stored in her own personal Pandora's box are enough to overwhelm her body and soul, and she doesn't know if, once opened, she would be able to replace all the evil inside, and seal it close.

Vala catches Elizabeth's hand and tucks it close to her chest. Her heart is drumming wildly against her ribcage, and there's a haunted look in her grey eyes Elizabeth has never seen before.

_No one can hide forever, not her, and certainly not you_, her mind whispers.

"Oberoth loved the smell of blood."


End file.
